Former cop gets jail, probation for ticket fixing

WESTMINSTER – A former Garden Grove police officer was sentenced Friday to a year's probation and 30 days in jail for conspiring in texts and calls with a former Huntington Beach officer to dismiss a ticket issued to a woman.

But Michael John Zannitto, 47, will be spared jail time if he completes 100 hours of community service, according to prosecutors.

An Orange County jury in December found Zannitto and Erik Michael Krause, 44, guilty of one misdemeanor count of conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Krause faces a sentence ranging from probation up to one year in jail at his Feb. 15 sentencing, the Orange County District Attorney's Office said in a news release.

At the time of the crime, Krause was a 22-year veteran of the Huntington Beach Police Department, and Zannitto an 11-year member of the Garden Grove Police Department. Both no longer work with the departments.

In November 2011, Krause issued the 32-year-old woman a ticket and later that same month, Zannitto met her at Knott's Berry Farm when he was off-duty. He got in touch with Krause, whom he did not know before speaking of the ticket, and Krause eventually agreed to dismiss the ticket, prosecutors said.